Shall We Dance? (2004 film)
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| Shall We Dance? | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Peter Chelsom |
| Produced by | Simon Fields Bob Weinstein Harvey Weinstein James Tyler |
| Written by | Masayuki Suo (original screenplay) Audrey Wells |
| Starring | Richard Gere Jennifer Lopez Susan Sarandon Stanley Tucci Lisa Ann Walter Richard Jenkins Bobby Cannavale Omar Benson Miller Mya Harrison with Ja Rule and Nick Cannon |
| Music by | John Altman Gabriel Yared |
| Cinematography | John de Borman |
| Editing by | Robert Leighton |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
| Release date(s) | October 15, 2004 |
| Running time | 106 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $50 million |
| Gross revenue | $170.1 million |
| Preceded by | Shall We Dance? |
Shall We Dance? is an American motion picture released in 2004. It is a remake of the award-winning Masayuki Suo 1996 Japanese film, Shall We Dansu?. The film made its US premier at the Hawaii International Film Festival.[1] Parts of Shall We Dance were filmed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in a dance studio located on campus at the University of Manitoba.
Taglines:
Step out of the ordinary.
A new comedy about following your own lead.
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[edit] Plot
John Clark (Richard Gere) is a lawyer with a charming wife and a loving family, who nevertheless feels that something is missing as he makes his way every day through the city. Each evening on his commute home through Chicago, John sees a beautiful woman staring with a lost expression through the window of a dance studio. Haunted by her gaze, John impulsively jumps off the train one night, and signs up for ballroom dancing lessons, hoping to meet her. At first, it seems like a mistake. His teacher turns out to be not Paulina (Jennifer Lopez), but the older Miss Mitzi (Anita Gillette), and John proves just as clumsy as his equally clueless classmates on the dance-floor. Even worse, when he does meet Paulina, she icily tells John she hopes he has come to the studio to seriously study dance and not to look for a date. But, as his lessons continue, John falls in love with dancing. Keeping his new obsession from his family and co-workers, John feverishly trains for Chicago's biggest dance competition. His friendship with Paulina blossoms, as his enthusiasm rekindles her own lost passion for dance. But the more time John spends away from home, the more his wife Beverly (Susan Sarandon) becomes suspicious. With his secret about to be revealed, John has to do some fancy footwork to keep his dream going and realize what it is he really yearns for.
[edit] Cast
- Richard Gere as John Clark
- Jennifer Lopez as Paulina
- Susan Sarandon as Beverly Clark
- Lisa Ann Walter as Bobbie
- Stanley Tucci as Link Peterson
- Anita Gillette as Miss Mitzi
- Bobby Cannavale as Chic
- Omar Miller as Vern
- Tamara Hope as Jenna Clark
- Stark Sands as Evan Clark
- Richard Jenkins as Devine
- Nick Cannon as Scott
- Karina Smirnoff as Link's Pouty Dance Partner
- Mya Harrison as Vern's Fiancée
- Ja Rule as Hip-Hop Bar Performer
- Tony Dovolani as Slick Willy
- Slavik Kryklyvyy as Paulina's Pro Ballroom (finale)
[edit] Comparisons
A number of changes were made from the original 1996 film, Shall We Dansu?.
| Shall We Dansu, 1996 | Shall We Dance, 2004 | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Shohei Sugiyama (Kōji Yakusho), an accountant | John Clark (Richard Gere), a lawyer | In the original, Sugiyama's secrecy is partly due to cultural ideas about dancing. In the remake, John's secrecy is because he doesn't want to hurt his wife. He loves her, but feels a need to dance. |
| Mai Kishikawa (Tamiyo Kusakari) | Paulina (Jennifer Lopez) | In the original, Mai's father is a dance instructor who owns the Kishikawa school. In the remake, Paulina's father is a dry-cleaner. |
| Tomio Aoki (Naoto Takenaka) | Link Peterson (Stanley Tucci) | In the original, Aoki's shame was based upon cultural fears related to ballroom dancing. In the remake, Link's shame was based upon cultural fears which connect dancing with homosexuality. |
| Toyoko Takahashi (Eriko Watanabe) | Bobbie (Lisa Ann Walter) | There is not much of a difference between the original and the remake. Bobbie is actually very much the American version of the loud dance addict Toyoko. |
| Tokichi Hattori (Yū Tokui) | Chic (Bobby Cannavale) | In the original, Hattori is a proud and self-proclaimed dance enthusiast who wanted to please his wife, who herself is into ballroom dancing. In the remake, Chic wanted to dance to pick up women but later found out otherwise. |
| Masahiro Tanaka (Hiromasa Taguchi) | Vern (Omar Benson Miller) | In the original, Tanaka did not begin with a girlfriend. In the remake, Vern states that he wants to learn to dance to impress his fiance. |
| Tamako Tamura (Reiko Kusamura) | Miss Mitzi (Anita Gillette) | In the original Tamako was a senior instructor. In the remake, Miss Mitzi is the owner of the school. |
| Masako Sugiyama (Hideko Hara) | Beverly Clark (Susan Sarandon) | In the original, Masako is the typical devoted and soft-spoken wife of a Japanese salary man. The remake made sure that Beverly Clark would be the typical working mom that American audiences would relate to and with much sympathy for her romanticism. |
[edit] Reception
Shall We Dance received a 48 percent rating from Rotten Tomatoes (Fresh: 70 Rotten: 75).[2] Roger Ebert stated in the Chicago Sun Times that "I enjoyed the Japanese version so much I invited it to my Overlooked Film Festival a few years ago, but this remake offers pleasures of its own."[3]
[edit] Box office performance
The movie debuted on October 15, 2004, grossing $11,783,467 in the opening weekend.The movie ran for 133 days,grossing $57,890,460 domestically and $112,238,000 in the foreign market. Its international total stands at $170,128,460.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Shall We Dance? (2004 film) |
- Official site
- Shall We Dance? at the Internet Movie Database
- Shall We Dance? at Allmovie
- Shall We Dance? at Box Office Mojo
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